National News

Westboro's Fred Phelps dead at 84

by Kate Seamons, Newser Staff

(NEWSER) – Just days after his estranged son revealed he was "on the edge of death," Fred Phelps has died. The death of the 84-year-old founder of the Westboro Baptist Church occurred shortly before midnight, son Timothy Phelps tells WIBW. Daughter Shirley Phelps-Roperconfirmed that Phelps died yesterday at Midland Care Hospice. WIBW takes a look at the life of Phelps, the man "bent on delivering a message," who, after being disbarred in 1979, made bids for senator and governor in Kansas and ultimately achieved notoriety at the helm of Westboro, whose infamous funeral protests included the picketing of military funerals and the funeral of Matthew Shepherd.